Your Eyes
by Evelyn-Sunshine
Summary: Jack loses someone very close from his past.
1. Death in the Family

`  
  
Sam sighed as she read the morning paper. Jack looked up at her over his bowl of cereal. "What wrong in the world today?" he asked.  
  
She looked up briefly before responding. "Nobel Peace Prize recipient went missing," she said quietly, reading from the article. "Her plane disappeared over the Atlantic after she left Morocco. She was going to see her kids for the first time in almost a year. The half-Iranian, half-American has spent the last thirty years working in aid camps around the world, mostly in the Middle East."  
  
He looked up startled. "Not Peta Guerin?" he demanded, worry thick in his voice.  
  
She looked up at him, clearly shocked. "I forgot you knew her!" she exclaimed. "I'm so sorry, Jack. I don't know what to say."  
  
Jack stood up from the table quickly and retreated down the corridor to the sanctuary of his office. Sam watched him going, wanting to stop him , but not know what to say or what good it would do.  
  
He was still in his office, sitting in the dark, when Gen, Hammond knocked on the door two hours later. "Colonel?" he asked as he opened the door.  
  
"I'm here," he said quietly, rubbing a few tears out of his eyes.  
  
"Maj. Carter just informed me of what happened," he said slowly. "I'm very sorry."  
  
He nodded once. "Thank you, sir."  
  
"If you'd like to attend the memorial service, Teal'c has gone to Chulak for a few days while you're on leave."  
  
He nodded again. "Thank you, sir... again."  
  
He paused. "I'm sure Maj. Carter would accompany you. She mentioned that she briefly met Dr. Guerin in the Gulf?"  
  
Jack nodded slowly. "It's possible. Peta met a lot of people working at medical aid camps all over the Middle East. Especially during the Gulf."  
  
Gen. Hammond nodded. "Well, just let me know when you finally decide," he said before exiting the room.  
  
~~~~~~  
  
Jack and Sam arrived at the memorial service in their dress blues, and impressive sight even to Peta's colleagues who frowned on the militaristic actions of governments. They waited in the back of the hall where the service was being held. An older woman approached them quietly. "Jack, I'm glad you made it," she said quietly.  
  
He leaned down and kissed her on the cheek, hugging her gently. "Hey, Mom. Mom, this is Maj. Samantha Carter. Carter, Claudia O'Neill."  
  
Sam shook her hand. "It's nice to meet you, Mrs. O'Neill."  
  
She nodded once. "I didn't know if you'd gotten my message," she commented quietly.  
  
He looked down at his mother. "I didn't actually," he said, just as quietly. "Carter read about it in the paper. We were given the day to come out."  
  
Claudia smiled sadly. "Well, Mahin will be glad to see you." She sighed. "Those poor children. Can you imagine, just as Peta was going to move back to the States to be with them, she's lost in a plane crash?"  
  
Sam looked over to where the rest of Peta's family was sitting. There was a young woman sitting between an older woman who must have been Peta's mother and two younger teenaged twins. Her reddish-brown hair fell in a perfectly straight curtain across her face as she bowed her head in thought. When she straightened up, there was something familiar about her eyes that took Sam by surprise. She looked at the twins again and noticed they both had chestnut brown hair, the girl's curled down past her shoulders.  
  
Claudia's voice broke into her thoughts. "Will you be able to come back to Mahin's after?" she asked as the service ended. "I know she really wants to see you. She would have called you, but..."  
  
Jack nodded. "I think we have time for that."  
  
Sam hung back with Claudia for a moment as they made their way out to the car. "Were the kids up in front Peta's?" she asked quietly.  
  
Claudia nodded. "Alia Grace and Jude are the twins. Leila is the older one. They're all very intelligent, just like Peta. Mahin's made sure they attend the best schools."  
  
"What's going to happen to them now?"  
  
"They'll go on like they have their whole lives," Claudia said, a little too easily. "Peta always tried to be there for her kids, but she was driven by a higher power to take care of all the people how had no one else. Mahin will make sure they do their mother proud." Claudia smiled gently, touching Sam's arm lightly as she was called away to speak with another guest.  
  
~~~~~  
  
Mahin Guerin a spectacularly elegant older woman. Most people found her usually stern demeanor off-setting, but those who knew her knew that she was just a giving and selfless as her daughter. Jack walked right to the older woman, and hugged her as he had his own mother. "Jack O'Neill," she said reprovingly. "You've been avoiding my family for too long."  
  
"Mahin, you never liked me hanging around," he countered teasingly. "You said I always messed up your clean floors."  
  
"And you did," she said, wagging her figure in his face. "But Panteha always stood up for you. She said the jinn where just playing a joke on me."  
  
"When really I just purposely walked through the mud before coming over."  
  
"You really should have come over more," she said seriously. "Or you could have visited your mother and waved from one of the windows."  
  
He looked slightly offended. "I always called!" He turned to Sam who was giving him a funny smile. "Oh, Mahin. This is Maj. Samantha Carter. She's my second in command at the base. Carter, this is Mahin Guerin, Peta's mother."  
  
Mahin nodded, smiling slightly. "Ah! Of course, Samantha," she said warmly. "It is lovely to meet you."  
  
Sam smiled in return. "It's nice to meet you as well. I'm very sorry about your daughter." Mahin nodded slightly, a strange look passing over her face.  
  
The young woman walked up behind them. "Grandma, Gracie's... well, let's just say, she's upsetting some of Mama's colleagues." Mahin nodded knowingly and went off to find her granddaughter.  
  
Sam looked from the young woman to Jack, suddenly feeling the need to leave them alone. "If you'll excuse me, I need something to drink," she said politely before crossing the room.  
  
Jack watched the young woman for a moment. "You're Leila," he said when she gave him a questioning look.  
  
"And you're Jack," she said, nodding lightly. She looked almost... nervous.  
  
They stood for a moment, unable to think of anything to say to each other. "Mahin tells me you're studying archaeology at the University of Chicago. A friend of mine went there as well."  
  
"Anyone I'd know?"  
  
He nodded sadly. "Possibly. Dr. Daniel Jackson."  
  
"Oh!" she said, more than mildly impressed. "I've heard of him on a number of occasions. I'm in grad school, so I've gone over some of his papers many times."  
  
"But... you're only twenty."  
  
She shook her head. "No. I'm twenty-three. But I'm in one of those programs that skips the Masters and get me right to my doctorate, so it's still slightly impressive," she said, a strange smile on her lips. "Only one year left."  
  
He laughed slightly, shaking his head. "You're so much like your mother."  
  
She smiled in return. "Mama always said I was like my father. Gracie, too. Not so much Jude, though. He's mostly Mahin."  
  
He suddenly looked down at his watch. "I'm afraid I have to catch a plane back to the base," he said as Sam made her way back across the room. "I'm very sorry about your mother."  
  
She smiled, nodding slightly. "It's alright. She's jinn now. She's watching over us."  
  
Leila nodded and left him just as Mahin made her way back to Jack. "I'm sorry. Gracie seems to believe in the jinn as much as Panteha did. She's been telling people her mother didn't die but instead became one of the jinn and now protects all of the people she couldn't before. I'm afraid my little Alia Grace has her mother's beliefs."  
  
Jack gave her an odd look as Sam appeared at his side. "That's alright. Um... I'm afraid Carter and I have to be getting back."  
  
Mahin smiled and gave them both friendly hugs. "It was lovely to make your acquaintance, Samantha," she said politely. "And don't forget to call, Jonathan O'Neill. I may not be your mother, but I fed you enough when you were younger to mean something."  
  
"Yes, ma'am," he said smiling, making his way out. He turned back just as he got to the door. "How old are Gracie and Jude?"  
  
Mahin smiled slightly. "Almost thirteen." Jack nodded and closed the door behind himself.  
  
~~~~~~  
  
"You know some very interesting people," Sam commented as they made their way to the airport.  
  
Jack shook his head. "I knew hardly anyone there," he commented lightly. "They were Charlie's friends."  
  
She gave him an odd look. "What?"  
  
"Peta," he said. "Real name, Panteha, but most people called her Peta. I usually just called her Charlie. She went missing in Lebanon in the Beirut Wars... Sara and I named Charlie after her. I thought she was dead until I saw her in Saudi Arabia in '90. And that's classified. As a matter of fact, I wasn't there."  
  
"Got it," Sam said quickly.  
  
They were silent for a moment. "Sir, if I might ask..." Sam trailed off breaking the silence. "What did Mahin say about the jinn? Aren't jinn supposed to be like... spirits that sometimes help and sometimes hurt humans?" Jack nodded slightly. "And she said that Peta... is jinn now?"  
  
He snorted. "You mean you noticed it too?"  
  
"It might be a coincidence, but she could have Ascended," Sam nodded.  
  
"Most people thought she was crazy for believing in jinn," Jack said quietly. "A now, we know they probably do exist."  
  
There were quite for another minute. "Have you ever met them before? Peta's children?"  
  
"Leila once. Just after Charlie was born. Mahin had them in boarding schools, so there usually weren't there when I visited."  
  
"She has you eyes," Sam commented quietly. Jack gave her a sideways glance and started laughing quietly. "What?" she demanded. "What's so funny?"  
  
"Sara said the exact same thing."  
  
~~~~~~  
  
Jack arrived back home and went right to the answering machine. Sure enough, there was a message from exactly one week before.  
  
"Jack, sweetheart, it's Mom. Listen... God, I shouldn't say this in a message, but I don't know when you'll get this. Jack, Peta died. Her plane went down somewhere between Morocco and New York. Please, if you get this in time, come to the memorial service on Wednesday. I love you. Please call when you get this."  
  
His finger hesitated as he hit erase.  
  
A second best friend gone is as many months.  
  
*******  
  
Author's Note: Just a intimate look on Jack. He doesn't really get any good moments in any of my stories and this called out to be written. This is just a one-shot- Peta's not gonna come back like Daniel did. 


	2. Leila

Author's Note: (before the story? odd for me) I couldn't make it a one-shot! My mind won't let me. I can't promise the flashback will be coming soon, though. I have a saga like story I'm trying to write more revolving around Sam's family and oh so much more.   
  
Anyway, to the story:  
  
********  
  
Jack woke up the next morning after falling asleep watching TV. The pounding in his head momentarily made him think he'd had a bit too much the night before, but then he remembered he'd only had one beer and the pounding was coming from the door.  
  
He opened the door and was taken aback to find Leila standing on his doorstep. "What are you doing here?" was the first thing he could think of to say.  
  
"Honestly?" she started, falsely cheerful. "I have no idea."  
  
He stood aside and opened the door wider. "Well, come in. It's cold." She stepped into his house and they stood in silence for an awkward moment. "Do you want some coffee?" he asked, finally breaking the silence.  
  
She nodded. "That'd be great."  
  
He motioned to the other room. "You can wait in there... I'll go make the coffee. Oh, how do you take it?"  
  
"Black. Strong as possible."  
  
~~~~~~  
  
Jack handed Leila the cup of coffee and sat down across from her. "She never told you, did she?" she asked before taking a sip of the dark liquid. He shook his head in response. "But you knew?"  
  
He nodded slowly. "My wife noticed. She said you had my eyes. She was just joking, I think, but..."  
  
"She always said you were smart," Leila said quietly. "She also said that you were then best person to have around if you needed someone shot."  
  
"Ah. She always disapproved of the military career."  
  
"She was proud!" Leila corrected, a little shocked. "She always had stories about how brave you were when you were kids. She said you would always play war and you'd kill everyone then she would save your life when you got shot by the enemy sniper."  
  
He laughed slightly. "Yeah. Did she mention that she was the one who always pointed out that the sniper had me in his sights?"  
  
Leila laughed as well. "No. She left that part out."  
  
"With good reason. It makes her look better to be the saviour and not the instigator."  
  
She nodded slightly. "Grandma said that you wanted to get custody of me when Mama was missing in Lebanon."  
  
He nodded. "Mahin refused. She said Peta wouldn't have wanted you to grow up worrying that you were going to lose both of your parents. Peta told me the same thing when I saw her after she... came back." Jack could still hear her voice, furious as he was about the whole situation. 'Dammit Jack! She already has to deal with having her mother gone. God– I *died* when she was four years-old! I can't give *my* daughter a father just have him disappear for months at a time, possibly to never come back! And don't you dare say that's unfair because you know fair doesn't get to be a part of our lives!'  
  
"So... you were just Uncle Jack who sent me money on every holiday and birthday?" she asked, cutting into his thoughts.  
  
He nodded. "Paid for you braces too."  
  
She unconsciously let her tongue run across her perfectly straight teeth. "Thanks for that one." She took a small sip of her coffee and turned the cup around in her hands. "And you know about the twins, right?"  
  
He nodded. "It only took me slightly longer to figure that one out."  
  
"You mean yesterday?" she asked, looking at him from underneath her eyelashes.  
  
He gave her a look. "You learned that from your grandmother, didn't you?"  
  
She shrugged.   
  
"Does Mahin know you're here?" he asked suddenly.  
  
"Nope."  
  
He smiled. "You are my kid, aren't you?"  
  
She smiled in return. "Certain documents attest to that, yes." They sat in silence for a moment, finishing their cooling cups of coffee. "So," Leila said, breaking the comfortable silence. "Was that woman you brought to the service your girlfriend?"  
  
"No. She's my teammate, my second-in-command, actually."  
  
"You got a girlfriend?"  
  
"Nope."  
  
"Boyfriend?" He gave her a look. "What? It's possible," she said innocently.  
  
"Do you have a boyfriend?" he asked her pointedly.  
  
She rolled her eyes. "Sometimes, not at the moment. He's in Malta right now, forgot to call on my birthday. I'm not speaking with him."  
  
"Archaeologist?" She nodded. "Yeah. They'll do that. Are you just studying rocks?"  
  
She laughed. "I'm studying anthropology too."  
  
"No linguistics?"  
  
"Actually, yes. That sort of comes with the territory."  
  
He gave her a funny look. "Are you sure you're name isn't Jackson?"  
  
She laughed again. "Positive. But I met him about ten years ago when Uncle Keith fulfilled my greatest dream and took me on a dig in North Africa. How do you know him?"  
  
The cover story came out of his mouth immediately. "He was on my team. We work around the world with deep-space radar telemetry, and Daniel was our resident diplomat."  
  
She gave him an odd look. "Why do I not believe you?"  
  
"Let's move on. What's your middle name?"  
  
"Claudia."  
  
"Do you have any nicknames?"  
  
"Just Lay-lay, but no one's aloud to call me that anymore."  
  
"What's your boyfriend's name and how old is he?"  
  
"Michael and twenty-eight."  
  
"Do you have any hobbies?"  
  
"Does sleep count?" she asked lightly. "Because if it doesn't, I'm known to have a fondness for old cars and the Real Madrid football team."  
  
"Anything I should know about Gracie and Jude?"  
  
She thought for a moment. "Gracie and Jude are Alia Grace and Casper Jude when their in trouble, which is a lot. And they've wanted a dog their entire lives."  
  
"Do you like 'The Simpsons?'"  
  
She gave him an odd look. "I've watching it every week for the past thirteen years. Why?"  
  
He shrugged. "Just seeing how well we'd get along."  
  
"How'd I do?"  
  
"Do you like snakes?"  
  
"Hate them."  
  
"You pass." They both laughed and looked up as the phone rang. Jack got up and answered it. "Hello? Ah, Mahin... Yes, she is here actually... Well, I have to go out of town tomorrow, so I thought I'd send her back before then."  
  
Leila stood up as he said that. "I actually have a return ticket for eleven," she said. "I should probably head out."  
  
Jack moved the phone away from his mouth. "No, I'll drive you... Yes, Mahin. She'll be back in a few hours... No I didn't tell her the military would solve all of her problems! When have I ever said that?... No, fine. I have to take her to the airport... Yes. Talk to you later... Good– Good-bye, Mahin." He hung up the phone and rolled his eyes. He turned o Leila. "You can't just run out on that woman!" he chastised, grabbing his keys. "You're mother did once and she stayed away for thirty years because Mahin yelled so loud."  
  
Leila laughed as she walked out the door. "So, that's why she devoted her life to helping people in warring countries! I'd always wondered about that career choice," she joked.  
  
~~~~~~  
  
Sam caught up with Jack after the debriefing the next morning. "Now are you doing, Sir?"  
  
He nodded, a smile slowly appearing on his face. "Surprisingly good," he said. "Leila showed up yesterday. I guess with her so upbeat about the whole situation sort of rubbed off."  
  
Sam looked surprised. "Leila?" she repeated. "Was this a good surprise?"  
  
"Are any surprises good?" he asked sarcastically. Sam gave him a disapproving look. "It was... good to see her," he said slowly. "I think it helps her to know that she has a parent out there she can call form time to time."  
  
"That's good you can finally get to know her," Sam said sincerely. "Just don't mess it up by threatening her boyfriend."  
  
"How'd you know I wanted to do that?" Jack demanded as Sam hurried off to her lab. 


	3. 1970

`  
  
Jack groaned as the alarm clock went off. He pulled the pillow out from under his head and placed it over his face. A slender arm reached across his chest and smacked the clock to the floor.  
  
"You could have just turned it off," he muttered through the feathers.  
  
The only response he got was an agitated groan.  
  
A few minutes later, the bedroom door opened and a teenage boy about a year younger than Jack looked in. "Hey, Peta!" he barked, throwing stuffed animal at the head on Jack's chest. "Mom says if you're going to stay up drinking, do it on the weekend, 'cause you still have to go to school."  
  
She looked up, pushing the curtain black hair out of her face. "We weren't drinking, Benny," she said, throwing the toy back, hitting him in the face. "If you're going to snitch, at least get it right. And you own me for that pot you stole."  
  
He grinned evilly at her. "Why don't you tell Mom?" he taunted.  
  
She snarled in anger as Benny retreated down the hall. She crawled over Jack and fell onto the floor, groping for her clothes. Jack peeked out from under the pillow as she wiggled into a pair of jeans while still lying on the floor.  
  
"You know, that's supposed to be easier to do if you stand up," he muttered, sitting up.  
  
She glared up at him. "O'Neill, the next time we go to the lake, I'm totally leaving you there."  
  
He gave her a lopsided grin as she threw his shirt in his face. "Charlie, if that ever happens... come on, who are you kidding? That's never going to happen."  
  
Continuing to glare, Peta stood up and placed her hands on her hips. "Oh, you don't think I could leave you?" she demanded. Jack shook his head, still smiling. And annoyed smile made its way onto her face. "Dammit," she muttered.  
  
Jack pulled her closer and grabbed some of her long hair in his teeth. She kissed the top of his head. "Come on," she said, backing away from him and pulling him to his feet. "Mama obviously wants to yell at us before we head out."  
  
"I need shoes first," he said, turning back to find them. "Last time Mahin yelled at us we left before I could grab some."  
  
~~~~~  
  
Peta and Jack crept into the kitchen, unsure of how furious Mahin would be this morning. "Come over and eat something," she commanded without looking up from one of her Iranian journals. They took this as a good sign and   
  
Mahin reached across the counter and smacked Peta without looking up. Peta rolled her eyes. "Good morning to you too," she muttered, rolling her eyes.  
  
"Don't you take that tone with me!" Mahin snapped, still reading her paper. "I know you were up all night at the lake again. Don't try to deny it–I heard the car pull up. Just because you're graduating doesn't mean you get to run around doing whatever you feel like. You still have school today."  
  
"It's hardly school," Jack pointed out. "It's just graduation practice." Mahin reached over and smacked him as well.  
  
"You kids," she exclaimed, finally looking up. "You spend all of your time listening to Simon and Garfunkle and Jimi Hendrix and all of those other no-good pot-head, you have no idea what the rest of the world is like. Everything is sex, drugs, and rock and roll for you!"  
  
Peta rolled her eyes. "I know Mama," she drawled. "Girl's younger than I am are already married with families in Iran. They don't even have the chance to finish school because they have oppressive husbands and wicked mothers-in-law. I'm lucky that I get to go to school and drive on roads that people don't die on every five minutes because we have speed limits."  
  
Mahin smacked her again. "Your cousins are all jealous that you live here and get to go to college and have a career and a family, and you barely pass because you spend too much time at the lake! And you!" she snapped, turning on Jack who flinched. "Joining the military when the country is in a war? You make stupid decisions just like all of my children!"  
  
Jack grabbed a piece of toast from the plate on the counter. "Um, we're gonna be late," he said, grabbing Peta by the arm and dragging her out of the house.  
  
"Don't spend all day behaving like common hoodlums!" Mahin shouted after them. "I know your rehearsal is only going to take an hour. You have to pick up Felicia and Reza from school, and don't you dare forget and make them walk home again!"  
  
Peta paused at the door. "What about Val and Salma? And Benny and Keith for that matter? Do you want me to go sit and watch their baseball practice? Cheer them on and such?"  
  
Mahin gave her a look. "You're the oldest! You have to set an example for your brothers and sisters by not being a smart-ass!"  
  
"Yes, ma'am," she muttered as Jack pulled her out to the car.  
  
~~~~~  
  
Peta stretched her arms up over her head and laid back down on the dock, her toes skimming the water. "I love fishing," she said, perfectly content to be in the sun.  
  
Jack looked down at her and laughed. "We're not fishing."  
  
"It's not about catching fish, it's about the act of fishing itself," she said, kicking her toes in the water slightly. "There are no fish here anyway. Poles would be redundant." She shaded her eyes and looked up at Jack, who was being oddly contemplative. "Penny for um," she said, nudging his shoulder.  
  
He smiled down at her. "I was just thinking about what a stone cold fox you are."  
  
"Ah!" she said, sitting up. "I do believe my husband is hitting on me. Exactly how much have you smoked to be so sweet?"  
  
"I'm not hitting on you," he said, chuckling slightly. "I'm just noticing, that's all. Thinking about what we're going to do."  
  
Peta's happy mood was suddenly shattered, she jumped to her feet and glared at him. "You shit!" she snapped, grabbing her shoes and going back to the car.  
  
"Charlie!" he called, getting up to follow her.  
  
"This was your idea!" she reminded him, trying to force open the car door, but her fingers kept slipping. "'How are we supposed to stay married when we're never going to see each other? We were too young, our parents were right. I can't let you give up your dreams to stay here and be a military wife.' How dare you make me believe that then change your mind?" she shouted. She screamed in aggravation. "WILL YOU OPEN THIS DAMN DOOR FOR ME?"  
  
He opened the door but wouldn't let her close it. "I didn't say I changed my mind!" he yelled back at her.  
  
"Oh, no, you didn't say it," she agreed sarcastically. "But I know you Jonathan O'Neill! You have changed your mind, and that is just so goddamn unfair of you! Christ! Everything you do is unfair! You didn't even talk to me before you joined the Air Force! I had to find out from May Anderson. MAY ANDERSON! Do you have any idea how embarrassing that conversation was for me? And then I was willing to go to school wherever in the country, but you insisted that I shouldn't give up my dreams, and now you changed your mind?" she demanded incredulously.  
  
"Okay, yes, I think we might be making a mistake!" he agreed. "Like everyone told us, getting married at sixteen wasn't smart–we know that! But we've made it two years without killing each other, and I can't imagine my life without you–I don't want to imagine my life without you."  
  
"You think I'm happy about this?" she spat at him. "Do you not remember the weeks of convincing it took for you to get me to agree to get a divorce before you ship out? Before I go off to college? 'The things we want don't mix well,' you said. 'If we'd waited a few years we would have realised that.' How fucking unfair of you t change your mind after all of that!"  
  
"Yes, I do remember," he said, a small amount of calm in his voice. "But I also remember you saying that if you had to choose between having a career and having a family, you'd choose having a family."  
  
She glared up at him. "We're going to be late picking up Felicia and Reza," she said, finally yanking the door closed.  
  
They drove to the elementary school in a furious silence. They hadn't said a word to each other and sat fuming in the car when Peta's two youngest siblings approached the car. They hesitated when they saw their sister's angry face.  
  
When they looked like they were going to back away from the car, Peta rolled down her window. "Get in the car!" she barked. They jumped and dove into the backseat in a split second.  
  
They were almost to the house when Jack finally spoke. "I want you to save the world."  
  
"I want you to save the world, too."  
  
"I'm sorry."  
  
"So am I."  
  
~~~~~  
  
Jack was enveloped in a hug by his mother. "Are you sure you don't want us to drive you to the bus station?" she asked for the twelveth time. "It really wouldn't be any trouble. Your sisters and I wouldn't mind at all."  
  
He shook his head, gently pushing his mother away. "I'm sure. Charlie's waiting for me." He gave his three younger sisters a sideways glance. "And anyway, I think Marie, Julia, and Nora have other plans for their weekends."  
  
With one last hug from each member of his family, Jack shouldered his bag and walked to the door. "Tell Dad I said bye," he said before closing the door.  
  
He walked next-door to where Peta was waiting in the passenger seat of the car. He threw his bag in the backseat and was about to climb in when Mahin came out to the car and gave him a hug every bit as tight as his mother's had been.  
  
"Don't make any more stupid decisions," she said, chastising him one last time. "I'll be very angry if you do something to get yourself killed in a stupid war."  
  
He smiled. "I'll try," he assured her, climbing into the car.  
  
Jack and Peta drove in silence to the station. They'd resolved their last argument, but it was still hard now that everything was finally happening.  
  
They both got out of the car when they stopped in front of the entrance. Peta caught Jack in a huge hug, and this one he returned just as tightly.  
  
"I don't expect you to write every day," Peta informed him, obvious in her voice that she was about to cry. "But if you don't write twice a week, I'll be very angry will you, Jack O'Neill," she said, trying to be harsh but failing.  
  
"Right," he said nodding. "And I expect you to write twice a week and tell me about everything that's happening in your life. It should be much more interesting than Nam."  
  
She snorted. "I doubt it. It's only Iran." She finally pushed him away and stepped back. "You should go. If you miss the bus, well... I think the Air Force frowns on that kind of thing."  
  
He smiled slightly and kissed her quickly. "I'll see you later, Charlie." He walked away from her toward the bus, and she turned back and got into the car. Neither of them looked back, knowing there final resolve wasn't strong enough to stand up through one last look. 


	4. Sorry! I changed my mind

Okay, as I was writing the next part of this story, I realised that this chapter doesn't fit. There needed to be conflict with the whole military/activist thing. And they need to have a more distant and superficial relationship for a while. If you read this chapter, sorry. Try to ignore it. 


	5. Reunions

Early 1990, Kuwaiti Desert, Medical Aid Camp  
  
A USAF black ops team had been sent to the Middle East. Despite their best efforts, even the best of the best managed to get lost in endless, empty desert. They were supposed to be in Saudi Arabia, but in the endless sameness, they missed. By all governmental accounts, Jack O'Neill and his team were not in the Middle East. However, that didn't stop them from nearly getting caught in a sand storm.  
  
"Hold still!" the director of the camp snapped.  
  
"If you'd stop torturing me, I'd stop moving!"  
  
"Colonel, you of all people should know there are worse things in life than getting six stiches without anaesthetic!" the woman snapped through her face veil. "And if you don't stop fidgeting, I will rip these out and start again!"  
  
Jack grumbled but held still. "You sound American," he said, looking suspiciously at her eyes.  
  
"I am American." She turned away and pulled off her face veil and hijab. "You're lucky you found us before the storm hit. Even American soldiers can die in the desert."  
  
"We're Airmen," he corrected with a tone. She turned back around and Jack practically jumped ut of his skin. "Oh my god! Charlie!"  
  
She raised an eyebrow. "Charlie? Who the hell's Charlie?" She shook her head and smiled slightly. "Oh, right. That's me. The memory still comes and goes," she said, shrugging helplessly. "That's why you look familiar, isn't it? You're Jack."  
  
He gave her an odd look. "What's going on here?"  
  
"Got a couple of hours?" she replied lightly.  
  
"What is going on here?" he repeated.  
  
"I'm back," she said lightly. "But... I have no idea where I've been. Want something to drink?" she offered, moving to where she kept a jug of water.  
  
"Damn it, Peta!" he snapped, causing her to look up at him. "What happened? Where have you been?"  
  
"I don't know!" she snapped in return. She took a deep breath and sat down across frm Jack. "After Beruit, I don't remember anything until about a year ago... and it's not that I just don't remember, those years didn't happen for me. Trust me," she said at his sceptical expression, "I know the difference. I spent the first six months of last year a complete blank slate."  
  
"And now?"  
  
"Not so blank."  
  
"When you remembered, why didn't you go back to Minnesota?"  
  
She chuckled lightly. "And what do you think would happen to Mahin's heart if I showed up on her doorstep?"  
  
"You're chicken shit," he muttered, smirking slightly.  
  
"Damn straight," she said, shrugging slightly. "Everything I've remembered has been god-awful... I don't want the little I remember of home to turn out to be the same."  
  
"What are you talking about?" Jack demanded. "You're mom's fantastic!"  
  
"She was?" Peta inquired doubtfully.  
  
He nodded emphatically. "After we got married, Mahin was the only one of our parents who wasn't ready to disown us and force us to get an annulment–even though she knew we were making a mistake, she was plenty vocal about that. She let us live in her house, even though we were kids who had no idea what marriage was. My god, she's taken care of Leila for the past six years and loved every second of it."  
  
"That's really my mother?"  
  
He nodded. "Yeah. And you're just like her."  
  
"No, I'm not. I would never have let my daughter get married at sixteen."  
  
"Do you not even know yourself anymore?" Jack asked, a bit sharper than he'd meant. "You do exactly what you want to do, hang the consequences–you always have. We got married knowing we'd have to get divorced, but you insisted we do it anyway. Not even Mahin could have stopped you!"  
  
"She should have," she responded quietly. "We were playing at marriage because we knew we could... it was the most ridiculously stupid thing we ever did."  
  
"Of course it was!" he exploded at her. "And that is exactly why we did it! We didn't want to admit that we were going to eventually leave each other, so we did the first thing that popped into our stoned heads!"  
  
"Now I remember why I neve bothered to go back!" she snapped. "All we do when we see each other anymore is argue! Well, argue and of course have sex. Because, let's face it–sex was really what we had in common. Well, actually sex, drugs, and rock and roll, as they say. And then later after we were supposed to be friends again, your letters were always so superficial!"  
  
"My letters?"  
  
She nodded. "You didn't even tell me about Sara! I heard about her from you sisters! What, did you think I wouldn't have approved?"  
  
"You wrote to my sisters?" He shook his head pushing the statement away. "And what about you? You're letters were just the same!"  
  
"What sort of dating could I have done?" she demanded. "I lived in Middle East and I'm not Muslim–that severely narrowed any possible options I had!"  
  
Jack couldn't respond to that. "Well, I– what about Leila?" he demanded.  
  
This seemed to hurt her immensely. "Leila?" she whispered. "You know about Leila?"  
  
He nodded slowly. "Yeah... I tried to get custody, but apparently, you had written into your will that under no circumstance was I to have custody of her as long as your mother and siblings were all alive."  
  
She flinched at the bitterness in his tone. "I meant to tell you, to explain... at least, I think I did."  
  
"Oh, and that makes it alright," he muttered sarcastically.  
  
Anger that Peta didn't even realise she possessed exploded out of her mouth. "Dammit Jack! She already has to deal with having her mother gone. God– I died when she was four years-old! And now, I hardly even remember her. Besides, even if I did, she is six years older than how I knew her. I have to find a way to reintroduce myself to her and the rest of my family without causing several aneurysms and you want to be a part of her life? I can't give my daughter a father just have him disappear for months at a time, possibly to never come back! And don't you dare say that's unfair because you know fair doesn't get to be a part of our lives!" She took a deep breath and wiped a tear out of her eye. "You have no idea how many children I have sewed back together without any anaesthetic or clean water, just so they can run back into the war zone that is their home. I don't want to remember my life, because frankly I don't think much of it was anything a sane person would voluntarily replay in their heads."  
  
Jack was taken aback by the outburst and didn't say anything else for a few moments. Finally, he cleared his throat. "Clearly, we have a few things we need to work out."  
  
Peta looked at him and then dissolved into giggles. "We never could communicate," she agreed.  
  
He nodded. "No... you hit it dead on with that sex comment before."  
  
She nodded. "Yeah, practically everything I've remembered about you is horizontal... a couple of vertical, maybe... but, whatever."  
  
From there, Jack and Peta launched into a conversation that last half the night. By the time the sand storm had passed in the morning, they were friends, and neither of them had slept.  
  
  
  
Author's Note: I'm a little bit happier with how this turned out... one last chapter to come. It'll probably be Jack trying to explain a few things to Sam... it'll go into more detail of how flawed this relationship actually was, if that's entirely necessary. 


End file.
